SuperPAC spending

I keep mentioning why the presidential election is over, and why Romney is going to win it. The monies being spent on his behalf by the SuperPACs is where it starts and ends.

Well, take a look for yourself:

Among those spending the most:
1) American Crossroads, $23.35 million, mostly in support of Romney and in opposition to Obama and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
2) Crossroads GPS, $16.87 million, mostly in opposition to Obama, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Democratic Senate candidates Tim Kaine (Va.), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Rep. Shelley Berkley (Nev.) and Rep. Joe Donnelly (Ind.).
3) Restore Our Future, $10.16 million, all in opposition to Obama.
4) Priorities USA Action, $8.26 million, all in opposition to Romney.
5) Service Employees International Union committees, $8.23 million, mostly in support of Obama, Berkley, Kaine and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and against various Republican candidates, including Senate candidate George Allen (Va.) and Reps. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) and Daniel Webster (R-Fla.).
6) House Majority PAC, $6.78 million, all in opposition to numerous Republican House candidates, most notably Reps. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Allen West (R-Fla.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), candidate Martha McSally (Ariz.) and Webster.

$213 million and counting in October. About four times as much as they had spent in August.

Some forecasts

With the SCOTUS about to rain on Obama's signature legislation, this is a good time to boldly make some predictions.

• SCOTUS on ObamaCare: 5-4 ruling declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional, and the ACA gutted.
• SCOTUS on Arizona's SB 1070: 5-3 ruling declaring at least 2 of the 4 contentious clauses constitutional.
• Mitt's running mate:  Tim Pawlenty
• November 6: 

• Mitt, after spending eclipses $1.2 billion on his behalf wins 286 or more in the electoral college

• Democrats gain 3 seats in the House

• Democrats retain the Senate with 51 members in their caucus.

SuperPACs: the right kind of influence?

Citizens United was new. Lisa Murkowski was in dire straits having been beaten, as the incumbent in the 2010 primary, by an unknown Joe Miller. The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) learned what power a super-PAC can have when the native corporations resolved to use one to support Senator Murkowski’s write-in campaign.

This was more than an endorsement by AFN, this was the power of funding with efficiency multiplied; a group may not be in consensus regarding who to support, but large amounts of corporate money, not legal in the past, could be garnered without the effort of contacting individuals, of coordinating the myriad calls and mailers to get a few dollars from each interested eligible voter. Now a SuperPAC can take the wishes of a few and use the power of that money to reach potential voters.